Sunday, April 16, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.
President Bush, exacerbating partisan tension over immigration reform, has accused Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of creating the deadlock that prevented the Senate from passing a bipartisan reform bill.
In speaking at a small business conference Thursday, Bush accused the Nevada senator of "single-handedly thwarting the will of the American people and impeding bipartisan efforts to secure this border and make this immigration system of ours more humane and rational."
Reid did nothing of the kind. He did lock horns with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., about how many amendments from Republicans who opposed the bill should be allowed to dilute the measure. But that didn't prevent this bill from going forward. The logjam was created by internal bickering among Republicans, some of whom still want no part of the proposal's provisions that would allow for a legalization program for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
Bush and Reid agree on the basic elements of the bill more than Bush and some Senate Republicans do. The real problem is that Bush can't unite Republicans on immigration policy reforms. But it is easier - albeit, more cowardly - for Bush to blame the Senate's leading Democrat than to spar publicly with members of his own party. Reforming the nation's immigration policies will take the kind of commitment, leadership and cooperation that Bush has failed to rally among his own supporters.
archive
